ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Nicholas Griffin is a journalist and author of four novels and one work of nonfiction. His writing has appeared in major publications on topics as disparate as sports and politics, piracy, filmmaking in the Middle East, and the natural sciences. Griffin has written for film and was a term member of the council on Foreign Relations. He lives in Miami and has "an English father, an American mother, a Venezuelan wife, a surfing son, a skateboarding daughter and a dog from New Jersey".